and traveled on.” She stopped in front of him. “How could they do that, James? How could they rob a child, then simply leave him like that?”
He shook his head. “I have no answer for such unconscionable behavior, Mary. But I know Aunt Laina would be very proud of you. As would Mother and Father. As am I.”
“But?” She gave him a quizzical look.
“But…I see some difficulties we must find solutions for. What do we do with Ben now?” He lifted a hand and rubbed the back of his neck, peering down at her. “Have you given thought to that? Is there an orphanage—”
Mary threw her arms around his neck and squeezed with all her might.
He returned the squeeze, giving her a puzzled look when she stepped away. “Thank you. But what was that for?”
“The ‘we.’” She smiled up at him. “There is no orphanage, James. But the most wonderful thing has happened! Ivy is going to take Ben home to live with her. She is recently widowed and her children are grown and gone from home. It is perfect. Ben will be well cared for, and Ivy will not be lonely.”
“That is a happy solution.”
“Yes. And now you have solved the other problem.” She whirled away, turned back and clasped his hands. “I have been concerned over the cost to Ivy for Ben’s care. And over Ben’s feelings. He is a very honorable and proud little boy who wants to earn his way. Why, hungry as he was, he would not eat the roll and cheese I promised him as payment for his help until he had carried my basket home, for that was our agreement. Anyway…” She squeezed his hands. “Oh, James, I am certain your idea will work!”
“What idea?”
“Why for Ben to work at Mr. Simpson’s store.” She let go of his hands and whisked away again, her long skirts whispering as she moved across the floor. “Marketing baskets can become very heavy when you carry them for any distance. And I am certain ladies would be willing to pay for Ben to carry their baskets home. Oh, it is a lovely idea!”
“So is dinner.” James laughed and slapped his growling stomach. “And I believe I hear Ivy carrying our meal in from the kitchen.” He made a formal bow and offered Mary his arm. “Shall we discuss this situation further while we partake of whatever it is that is creating such a delicious smell?”
“La, it shall be as you wish, good sir.” Mary lifted her skirts slightly, made him a deep curtsy, then laughed and slipped her arm through his.
James chuckled and opened the door. “I do not know if I have Ben or the captain to thank, Mary. But it is good to see you so animated again.”
Chapter Five
“We are in agreement, gentlemen?”
Sam glanced around the table, noting the response to the mayor’s question. All nine of the aldermen nodded.
“Excellent!” The mayor smiled his satisfaction. “Let the record show that final plans for the addition to the courthouse have been unanimously approved and we hereby direct the work move forward with all dispatch. Now then, on to the next piece of business. It is for this that I invited Captain Benton’s attendance on our assembly this afternoon.”
Sam gave a brief nod as the aldermen glanced his way.
The mayor cleared his throat. “Captain Benton, all of us here are aware that our city has enjoyed significant growth in the past two years. We now have a theater, a hotel, banks. A water company is in the works. And the long-delayed plans for a public school are being drawn. The vast numbers of new buildings and the cobblestone paving of many of our streets have changed the complexion of our city from that of a wilderness town. And the increased safety of our citizens is also a factor in achieving that goal. I wish to commend you, Captain Benton, on the excellent job you are doing in taming the wilder elements among us.”
There was a general murmur of agreement.
“Thank you, Mr. Mayor.” Sam acknowledged the commendation and waited. He had not been called to this meeting only to receive a compliment.
“Because of all this, there is much to recommend St. Louis to men and women of substance and refinement who are considering moving west, not to the frontier, but to an established place. We want to attract those prosperous elite to our city.”
There was another murmur of agreement.
“However…”
Sam braced himself.
“There is a problem that must be addressed if we are to be successful in our pursuit of that objective.” A frown drew the mayor’s thick brows together. “The lowborn and penurious people pouring into our city in the hopes of joining a train heading west are becoming greater in number every year. And while the monies they spend to buy wagons and supplies, or for repairing or restocking their wagons, are prospering our businessmen, the orphans and runaways they leave behind are becoming a plague, a blight on our fair city’s image. You can scarcely walk down the streets without seeing the dirty ragamuffins skulking around. Why yesterday, one of them made so bold as to walk right past my wife into Simpson’s grocer!”
Sam stiffened. The boy the Randolph woman had saved from arrest! It had to be him. Most youngsters were too frightened to go into a store alone.
“The experience was too much for my wife’s sensitive nature. She was quite undone when she reached home. Levinia had a time calming her.” The mayor scowled down the table at him. “This cannot be permitted to go on, Captain Benton! No person of wealth and culture will wish to set up business and make his home in a city that cannot keep its streets clean of such an ugly blemish. You do an excellent job of controlling the gamblers, drunks, mountain men, boatmen and others who frequent the more disreputable establishments on the levee. Yet these…these street urchins run amok among their betters. Have you an explanation for this deplorable situation, Captain?”
“I do, Mr. Mayor.” Sam glanced around the table at each of the aldermen, trying to get a sense of where they stood on the issue. “The explanation is a simple one. I arrest lawbreakers. And there is no law against children walking the streets of St. Louis. Thus, unless one of these ‘urchins’ is caught stealing, or otherwise breaking the law, there is nothing I can do about their presence on our streets.”
The mayor scowled, drumming his fingers on the table. “That is a most distressing answer, Captain.”
Sam held his face impassive, tightening the grip on his hat that rested on his knee. If this ruined his chance to court Levinia—
The mayor stopped his drumming, glanced around. “Gentlemen, we must find a way to get these ragamuffins off our streets. We can hardly pass a law denying all children that right—we have children of our own. And the people we are trying to attract for permanent settlement must be made to feel St. Louis is an ideal place for them to rear their children. They must feel we welcome their children as future productive citizens of St. Louis society. Have any of you a solution to offer?”
The aldermen shifted in their chairs, knit their brows and studied the table. Silence fell.
Sam held back a scowl. It seemed Miss Randolph’s interference with that boy’s arrest had stirred up a pile of trouble. He turned his hat in his hands and waited.
Alderman
